Five of the Most Famous Nurses in History
Since its earliest days, nursing has been a way for young people to excel and use their skills to help other people. Nursing was traditionally a career for young women, in a time when other careers were not an option. Many famous nurses in history were young women who wanted to be more than wives and mothers.
Florence Nightingale's name is almost synonymous with nursing. Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 into a rich British family. Her determination to become a nurse seemed foolish and crazy, because at this time, nursing was very much seen as a lower-class pursuit. Nurses were given very little training, and hospitals were viewed with fear as the place people went to die.
Florence would not be deterred, however, and trained at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth, in Germany, becoming a nurse in 1851. In 1854, the Crimean War broke out between Russia and Turkey. Britain, concerned with the growing power of Russia, sent soldiers to Turkey, and reports of the extreme casualties began filtering back to England.
Florence was concerned by the reports, and petitioned to bring nurses to Turkey. Her volunteer services were eventually accepted, and she brought 38 nurses with her when she left England. The conditions that met them at their destination were horrifying. Soldiers were dying left and right in filthy hospitals. The staff was undertrained and had no supplies.
Florence and her team of nurses whipped the hospital into shape, kept conditions sanitary, and ensured patients were well cared for. This had a drastic effect upon the number of deaths, which plummeted as the general hygiene rose, and she became known to the grateful soldiers as the Lady with the Lamp. Upon her return to England after the war, Queen Victoria rewarded her for her hard work by setting up a fund to train future nurses. Her nursing school trained nurses in sanitation and patient care, and transformed the field of nursing into something much closer to what it is today.
Throughout her life, Florence continued to fight for patient care, and remained dedicated to training new generations of nurses. She died at the age of 90, in 1910.
Photo courtesy of TankariLosVikt.
Clar
a Barton is one of the most famous nurses of the American Civil War. She was born in 1821 in Massachusetts. She was a teacher, a clerk, and briefly a nurse to her brother. Then, in 1862, the American Civil War broke out, and everything changed. She became extremely concerned by the stories she heard about the condition of wounded soldiers on the battlefield.
In response, she began gathering surgical supplies, and petitioned to be allowed to bring them out to the battlefields. When she was finally allowed to bring her supplies to the front, the field surgeons were astounded by the brisk woman who handed out gauze, provided lanterns after sunset, nursed the wounded, and even assisted in helping to identify the dead.
Clara worked throughout the war, traveling to some of the most violent and bloody battles with her supplies. Exhausted after the war, Clara was ordered to take a vacation to Europe, where she was impressed by the efforts of the International Red Cross, an organization whose sole purpose was to provide medical supplies during war time to both sides, as a neutral party. When she returned to the U.S., Clara rallied to establish a similar organization.
The American Red Cross was established in 1881, and Clara Barton acted as president until 1904. She died in 1912, at the age of 90.
Photo courtesy of Puma P.A.C.
Dorothea Dix was another wealthy young girl who turned her back on high society to care for others. Born in 1802, the young Dorothea rebelled against the dancing lessons and other lady-like pursuits pushed upon her. Even though her family was wealthy, she was determined to become a teacher – a career for poor young women, according to her family. Dorothea insisted, and got her way. She tutored wealthy young girls, but also volunteered to help the needy.
On a trip to teach a group of women at a local prison, Dorothea found her calling. She was horrified by the conditions the prisoners were kept in. The prisoners, a mix of criminals and the mentally challenged, were kept in dark, damp cells with no blankets or furniture. Even though she was weak and suffered from tuberculosis, Dorothea Dix spent the rest of her life lobbying for better conditions for the mentally challenged.
She traveled all over the U.S. investigating the conditions of prisons, and sent detailed reports to people in power. She introduced bills to Congress and spent her own money founding hospitals and sanitariums. She was one of the first people to insist that it the government should care for the mentally challenged. Dorothea Dix died in 1887, after a life spent fighting for rights for the mentally ill.
Photo courtesy of New Jersey Women's History.
Margaret Sanger was one of the most controversial nurses of modern times. Born in 1879, she was one of 11 children. Her mother had been pregnant 18 times. When her mother died at the age of 50, Margaret lashed out at her father, arguing that this staggering number of pregnancies was in large part responsible for her mother's death. Shortly thereafter, Margaret ran away to nursing school to escape her family.
As a nurse, Margaret gained a lot of first-hand experience with the aftermath of botched, illegal abortions. Watching the suffering of young women with no other options led to Margaret's dedication to affordable, legal birth control (a term that Margaret herself coined).
A mother of three, Margaret spent her life rallying for legal birth control and abortions. She provided easy access to contraceptives, taught sex education courses, and founded Planned Parenthood. She even bankrolled the scientist who developed the birth control pill.
Margaret Sanger died in 1966, having seen her dream of easy access to birth control realized.
Photo courtesy of NNDB.
Ma
ry Todd Lincoln was the wife of Abraham Lincoln. Born in 1818, she was the daughter of a wealthy lawyer. She received more education than was usual even for a rich young girl at that time, and was very interested in politics. In 1842 she married Abraham Lincoln, and became permanently enmeshed in politics when she became First Lady in 1861.
Mary Todd Lincoln never received any nursing training, and spent most of her life in domestic pursuits. As First Lady she was often the object of ridicule. Much of her family had fought for the Confederacy, and she had famously expensive taste when it came to clothes. However, during the war she volunteered her services as a nurse at hospitals across Washington, D.C., and toiled to ensure they had the supplies they needed.
After her husband's death in 1865, Mary Todd suffered from depression and mental instability, until her death in 1882. Although she faded into obscurity, her contributions as a nurse during the war were valuable and should not be forgotten.
Photo courtesy of World's Strangest.